Commission votes to keep current taxes

Tough economic times changed the minds of three city officials

The country's sour economic tide eroded the resolve of three Amarillo officials who originally sought a 6.9 percent property tax increase to beef up police and municipal court staff.

Other business

In other business, the Amarillo City Commission:

Approved the proposed 2009-2010 budgets of the Amarillo Hospital District, Amarillo Economic Development Corporation and Amarillo Convention and Visitor Council. The AEDC's efforts to attract and develop industrial, manufacturing and other business opportunities is funded by a half-cent sales tax. The CVC gets funding to promote tourism, convention and cultural events in Amarillo from the hotel/motel occupancy tax revenue collected within the city.

Approved a one-year agreement with Downtown Amarillo Inc. for services associated with downtown revitalization. The city will provide $201,420 under the agreement.

Approved a one-year agreement with Center City of Amarillo also for downtown revitalization efforts, such as the organization's facade grant program for businesses. The city will provide $125,000 to Center City under the agreement.

Accepted an $85,310 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration, which will pay 95 percent of the cost of a wildlife hazard assessment study for Rick Husband Amarillo International Airport. The city's $4,490 portion will come from the current airport operating budget.

"I owned my own business for nearly 29 years," Simms said. "I never had to face an economic time like we're having today. People are cutting back employees, cutting back hours, cutting back salaries and wages ...

"If there ever was a good reason to add taxes, this would be a good reason, but I just don't see it at this time."

The 2009-2010 budget commissioners adopted on Tuesday calls for keeping the property tax rate at 31.009 cents per $100 of taxable property value.

City staff recommended keeping the current rate, a 1.21 percent increase over the effective tax rate of 30.638 cents per $100 of value.

The effective tax rate is the rate needed to generate roughly the same tax revenue as the city received from property taxes in the current year. The effective rate is lower than the current rate because property appraisals have risen, new properties have come into the city and properties have been improved.

Keeping the current 31-cent tax rate will add 96 cents to the tax bill received by the owner of a $100,000 home.

The 6.9 percent hike would have increased the bill on a $100,000 home by $17.50.

Approval of the budget and property tax rate will not be completed until commissioners vote for a second time on the ordinances next Tuesday.

"I know we are not where we need to be with the ratio of police to people in our community," McCartt said. "However, I do know we are going through a hard time right now.

"No one is against having additional police. They are just concerned about having an increase in taxes at this time."

During the commission's work session, Simms proposed revisiting the question of adding police officers in the spring, after the city monitors sales tax collections to determine if they have increased or stayed flat as predicted in the 2009-2010 budget.

City Manager Alan Taylor said the commission could review sales tax collections in February to determine if there are increased revenues that might pay for additional officers.

Boyd said voter feedback and decisions he has had to make about his own business, due to the economy, added to his change of heart.

But Boyd warned that Amarillo will need to increase its tax rate in coming years if it's to maintain the pipelines, streets and other infrastructure required for a growing city.

"When is a good time to raise taxes? I can guarantee you everybody I talk to would say there's never a good time to raise taxes," he said. "But we've got to improve the infrastructure."